Trustee

The role will include 6 board meetings a year, plus 1 away-day.

Somerset Film is looking for volunteers to join our board of trustees and to help in our continued development. We invite people from any background living in or close to Somerset, to join our board of trustees. You don’t need previous experience of media or the charity sector, but you do need to share our mission to provide training, support and opportunities to all of Somerset’s many communities.

Our trustees currently meet once every two months to discuss the charity’s performance with the management team and to check progress and policies. Meetings are held in Bridgwater and online. Trustees also provide support for the management team and staff on an ad hoc basis outside of these formal meetings.

If you are a young person or have a disability and are interested in what we do, but don’t feel ready to join the board, we would welcome you as a member of either our youth or disability advisory panel.

We invite people from any background living in or close to Somerset, to join our board of trustees. You don’t need previous experience of media or the charity sector, but you do need to share our mission to provide training, support and opportunities to all of Somerset’s many communities.

Currently there are 8 trustees who represent the following perspectives:

• White British; male; female
• Age 25 -75
• South Somerset; Taunton & West Somerset; Mendip; Bristol.
• Media production; digital art; music; community regeneration; local authority; NGOs

It is important that our trustees reflect Somerset’s diversity, so if you are not represented here but feel you can contribute to our mission, please get in touch.

We are keen to add people with a background in finance or law to strengthen the board’s existing skills.

We also wish to strengthen what we already have so if you’re worried you might be duplicating any of our existing trustees, don’t be put off.

About Somerset Film

Somerset Film is an educational charity and film production company. Incorporated in 1997, we have a reputation for inclusion, partnerships and creative innovation. Able to respond quickly and flexibly to new opportunities, we make work that has won awards nationally and internationally. In the last 25 years we have brought over £3.9m of funding into Somerset to further our mission. We are supported by Arts Council England as one of their National Portfolio organisations and regularly run courses for young people funded by the British Film Institute. We also work with a wide range of individuals, organisations and businesses including artists, performers, NHS, charities and local authorities.

Somerset Film works throughout the county and is based at The Engine Room, a welcoming and accessible community media centre located in Bridgwater’s High Street. The centre co-ordinates all our activity and includes a cafe, licensed cinema, studios, meeting rooms and edit suites.

We are committed to operating sustainably and run a number of funded projects to train and support artists, young people and the many diverse communities throughout Somerset. 

Our charitable purpose is the advancement of education in the moving image

Our aim is to manifest the capacity of creative film and digital media to

• Encourage creativity and drive innovation 
• Build media / digital literacy
• Encourage confidence with creative technology and enable resilience
• Engender debate and critical thinking
• Reduce the digital divide
• Raise aspiration and self-esteem
• Reduce social isolation 
• Strengthen cohesion
• Inform and facilitate action to mitigate the climate emergency

Our mission is to help more people and communities across Somerset exploit the potential of creative film and digital media through delivery of a high-quality programme that reflects and celebrates the county’s distinctiveness.

Somerset Film is a trusted partner in building collective strength and inspired ambition.